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Troutdale Superfund Site Starts Phase 2 Improvements by Kristian Foden-Vencil Oregon Public Broadcasting, July 6, 2015

An effort to turn one of Oregon's largest wastelands into new industrial sites appears to be working.

The Port of Portland is reclaiming the 700-acre Troutdale Reynolds Industrial Park. It's the largest brownfield in the history of Oregon and it's also a superfund site.

The Port bought it in 2007 and it was cleaned up enough for FedEx to build a large distribution facility there.

Bill Wyatt of the Port of Portland says FedEx is expanding to fill phase one of the project, so now phase two can start, "Anything dealing with a Superfund is going to be incredibly complex," he said.

"You know the site became available, right at the beginning of the recession and so that obviously slowed interest in industrial property. But we're coming to market with additional acreage at a time when the market is really looking for property to expand and grow on," said Wyatt.

The U.S. government built an aluminum plant on the site in 1941 for the war effort.

It proved to be a good spot because it was close to the Columbia River for shipping, and the Bonneville Dam for cheap hydro-electric power.